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40-419: The Doric-colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues, from 136th to 138th Streets. Financier and philanthropist Adolph Lewisohn donated the money for construction. It opened in 1915, with a seating capacity of 8,000. The stadium hosted many athletic, musical, and theatrical events. It was one of New York's public landmarks. Lewisohn Stadium was demolished in 1973 to make way for

80-676: A Tony Award for her role as Jenny in Marc Blitzstein 's English version of The Threepenny Opera , the only time an off-Broadway performance has been so honored. Lenya went on to record a number of songs from her time in Berlin, as well as songs from the American stage. Her voice had deepened with age. When she was to sing the soprano parts in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and The Seven Deadly Sins ,

120-587: A blackjack by a white police officer in South Carolina earlier that year. The sold-out concert, organized by the New York Amsterdam News as the atrocity was gaining national attention, included performances by musicians Nat King Cole , Cab Calloway , Duke Ellington , Carol Brice , Woody Guthrie , and Billie Holiday . Orson Welles , who had helped to publicize the cruel attack on his radio program and in his New York Post column, also attended, and

160-478: A "new, New Amsterdam". The Board of Alderman approved the name change, but only after first considering "Holland Avenue"; the change was made just before the vote on the resolution. In their approval, the Board noted that other name changes in the area, including that of Eleventh Avenue to West End Avenue , had "a marked and beneficial effect on property" and that they held such name changes "as second in importance only to

200-520: A house at 277 Trumbull Avenue in Nichols, Connecticut , about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Pine Brook Country Club , the summer rehearsal headquarters of the Group Theatre . Here, Green and Weill wrote the script and music for the controversial Broadway play Johnny Johnson , which was titled after the most frequently occurring name on the American casualty list of World War I. During this period, Lenya had

240-685: A love affair with playwright Paul Green. During World War II, Lenya did a number of stage performances, recordings, and radio performances, including for the Voice of America . After a badly received part in her husband's musical The Firebrand of Florence in 1945 in New York, she withdrew from the stage. After Weill's death in 1950, she was coaxed back to the stage. She appeared on Broadway in Barefoot in Athens and married editor George Davis . In 1956, she won

280-533: A one-way street. At its intersection with 59th Street , it becomes Amsterdam Avenue and continues as a one-way street northbound until 110th Street (Cathedral Parkway) , where two-way traffic resumes. As Amsterdam Avenue, the thoroughfare stretches 129 blocks north – narrowing to one lane in each direction as it passes through Yeshiva University 's Wilf Campus, between 184th and 186th Streets – before connecting with Fort George Avenue south of Highbridge Park at West 193rd Street . On

320-521: A scene with Tony Roberts and Al Pacino . Stern, Jonathan. Music for the American People: The Lewisohn Stadium Concerts . Hillsdale: Pendragon Press, 2019. 40°49′09″N 73°57′04″W  /  40.819105°N 73.95119°W  / 40.819105; -73.95119  ( Lewisohn Stadium ) Tenth Avenue (Manhattan) Tenth Avenue , known as Amsterdam Avenue between 59th Street and 193rd Street,

360-468: A series of open-air summer concerts at the stadium for three decades during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, many conducted by . His Italian Night concerts often attracted an audience of over 13,000 guests for a single performance and featured noted soloists from the operatic stage including Licia Albanese and Richard Tucker . Both Leonard Bernstein of the New York Philharmonic and Kurt Adler of

400-620: A series of recordings for Everest with the "Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York." George Gershwin played his Rhapsody in Blue , and premiered his Cuban Overture at the stadium as well. Due to declining attendances, the regularly scheduled concerts were discontinued in 1966. The stadium was used by City College for its commencement exercises. All CCNY campuses took part, including Liberal Arts, Engineering and Architecture, and its Manhattan Business School (now Baruch College ). This practice continued through June 1973. (Graduation ceremonies for

440-692: Is a north-south thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It carries uptown (northbound) traffic as far as West 110th Street (also known as Cathedral Parkway), after which it continues as a two-way street. Tenth Avenue begins a block below Gansevoort Street and Eleventh Avenue in the West Village / Meatpacking District . For the southernmost stretch (the four blocks below 14th Street ), Tenth Avenue runs southbound. North of 14th Street, Tenth Avenue runs uptown (northbound) for 45 blocks as

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480-511: Is buried next to Weill at Mount Repose Cemetery in Haverstraw, New York . In 1956, Louis Armstrong recorded the song " Mack the Knife ", both as a solo number and as a duet with Lenya. Armstrong added Lenya's name into the lyrics, in place of one of the characters in the play. Bobby Darin 's 1959 hit recording of the song used these updated lyrics mentioning Lenya. Donovan 's 1968 song " Laléna "

520-699: The American Theater Hall of Fame . Lenya was born to Catholic working-class parents in Vienna. She went to Zürich to study in 1914, taking her first job at the Schauspielhaus , using the stage name Lotte Lenja. She moved to Berlin to seek work in 1921. Lenya and Weill did not meet properly until 1924 through a mutual acquaintance, the writer Georg Kaiser . They married in 1926, and later divorced in 1933, only to reconcile in September 1935 after emigrating to

560-991: The Metropolitan Opera also made appearances at the stadium as conductors. Guest appearances were also made at the stadium's podium by: Pierre Boulez , Andre Kostelanetz , Henry Lewis . Dimitri Mitropoulos , Julius Rudel , Alexander Smallens , Max Steiner , Alfred Wallenstein , and Mark Warnow . Over the decades, a wide variety of noted soloists also appeared at the amphitheater including: Marian Anderson , Louis Armstrong , Harry Belafonte , Jack Benny , Leonard Bernstein , Jorge Bolet , Van Cliburn , Placido Domingo , Joan Field , Ella Fitzgerald , Kirsten Flagstad , Benny Goodman , Thomas Hayward , Jascha Heifetz , William Kapell , Lotte Lenya , Yehudi Menuhin , Jan Peerce , Roberta Peters , Leontyne Price , Paul Robeson ,. Pete Seeger , Frank Sinatra , Renata Tebaldi , Richard Tucker and Yma Sumac The orchestra conductors Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski each made

600-467: The Upper West Side , Morningside Heights , Harlem , and Washington Heights . Much of these areas were working-class or poor for much of the 20th century. The street has long been noted for its commercial traffic. The street had grade-level railroad lines through the early 20th century. The Hudson River Railroad 's West Side Line ran along Tenth Avenue from its intersection with West Street to

640-456: The $ 125 million North Academic Center. In 1985, a plaza outside the center was rededicated as the Lewisohn Plaza, in memory of the stadium and its philanthropist. The CCNY football team played its home games at Lewisohn from 1921 to 1950. The final game played was a 33–6 Beavers victory over Lowell Textile on November 18, 1950, in front of 300 fans. (It was CCNY's only win that season, and

680-518: The United States. They remarried in 1937. During and between their marriages, she had numerous lovers, including Max Ernst , Paul Green , and Tilly Losch . In 1941, the couple moved to a house of their own in New City, New York , roughly 50 km north of New York City. Their second marriage lasted until Weill's death in 1950. Lenya's second husband (1951–57) was American editor George Davis , who

720-552: The admission price of merely twenty five cents, concertgoers at the amphitheater were treated to appearances by leading performers from the world of Jazz, Classical music and Opera. Several noted conductors appeared at the stadium in concert with the Lewisohn Stadium Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Kurt Adler and Alfredo Antonini conducted

760-473: The advantages of increased rapid transit." The Fort George Amusement Park , now a seating area in Highbridge Park, was located at the northern end of Amsterdam Avenue from 1895 to 1914. Tenth Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue were converted to carry one-way traffic northbound in two stages. South of its intersection with Broadway, the avenue was converted on November 6, 1948. The remainder, to 110th Street,

800-405: The city the train of cars was preceded by a man on horseback known as a "West Side cowboy" or "Tenth Avenue cowboy" who gave notice of its approach by blowing a horn. However, so many accidents occurred between freight trains and other traffic that the nickname " Death Avenue " was given to both Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. Public debate about the hazard began during the early 1900s. In 1929,

840-578: The city, the state, and New York Central agreed on the West Side Improvement Project, conceived by Robert Moses . The 13-mile (21 km) project eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings and added 32 acres (13 ha) to Riverside Park ; it also included construction of the West Side Elevated Highway . It cost more than $ 150 million (about $ 2 billion in 2017 dollars). The part of Tenth Avenue north of West 59th Street

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880-568: The class of 1969 were held at the Felt Forum of Madison Square Garden .) It was also used for CCNY's annual Army ROTC 's reviews at the end of each academic year. On August 16, 1946, the stadium was the site of a benefit concert for Sergeant Isaac Woodard , an African-American soldier in the U.S. Army who, upon being honorably discharged and returning home from service in the Pacific theater of World War II, had been brutally attacked and blinded with

920-414: The event was co-chaired by boxer Joe Louis and New York City Mayor William O'Dwyer . The stadium appeared as the setting of the final scene of the 1945 film Rhapsody in Blue in which Oscar Levant performs the title composition, with an orchestra conducted by Paul Whiteman , as a memorial to the composer. The derelict stadium was also used in the 1973 film Serpico , directed by Sidney Lumet , in

960-622: The music needed transposition to substantially lower keys. Sprechstimme was used in some famous songs in the Brecht-Weill plays, but now Lenya used it even more to compensate for the shortcomings of her voice. Lenya was aware of this as a problem; in other contexts, she was very careful about fully respecting her late husband's score . She founded the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, to administer incomes and issues regarding rights, and to spread knowledge about Weill's work. She

1000-547: The north side of Highbridge Park, unconnected to Amsterdam Avenue on the south side, Tenth Avenue then runs for slightly less than a mile from the northern terminus of the Harlem River Drive at Dyckman Street , to the intersection of West 218th Street where it merges into Broadway . Tenth Avenue runs through the Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen neighborhoods on the west side of the borough, and then as Amsterdam Avenue, through

1040-557: The piano, she did not see him. She was cast, but owing to her loyalty to her voice coach, she declined the role. She accepted the part of Jenny in the first performance of The Threepenny Opera ( Die Dreigroschenoper ) in 1928, and the part became her breakthrough role. During the last years of the Weimar Republic , she was busy in film and theatre, and especially in Brecht -Weill plays. She made several recordings of Weill's songs. With

1080-412: The program was discontinued the following year.) Along with Jasper Oval (right across Convent Avenue, also now demolished), Lewisohn was used throughout the academic year for many of the college's uptown campus outdoor intramural sports. The CCNY Varsity Rifle Team had its indoor, 50' small bore range under the stadium steps, entered through a doorway at the north end. The coach, Jerrold Uretsky (Jerry),

1120-518: The rise of Nazism in Germany, many artists were not appreciated, and although not Jewish, she left the country, having become estranged from Weill. (They would later divorce and remarry.) In March 1933, she moved to Paris, where she sang the leading part in Brecht-Weill's "sung ballet", The Seven Deadly Sins . Lenya and Weill settled in New York City on 10 September 1935. During the summer of 1936, Weill, Lenya, Paul Green , and Cheryl Crawford rented

1160-599: The songs of her first husband, Kurt Weill . In English-language cinema, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a jaded aristocrat in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961). She also played the murderous and sadistic Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963). In 1922, Lenya was seen by her future husband, German-Jewish composer Kurt Weill, during an audition for his first stage score Zaubernacht , but because of his position behind

1200-423: The team dissolved within 3 years of the loss of Lewisohn. The range was notoriously loud, with a steel backstop and concrete walls, and no acoustic insulation. In addition to hosting sporting events, the stadium was used for musical performances for nearly five decades starting in 1918 under the supervision of Minnie Guggenheimer, who attended the stadium's inaugural concert with her son Randolph Guggenheimer . For

1240-424: The upper city station at 34th Street , after which it veered to Eleventh Avenue ; the line was completed to Peekskill, New York in 1849. Over this part of the right-of-way, the rails were laid at grade along the streets, and since by the corporation regulations locomotives were not allowed, the cars were drawn by a dummy engine , which, according to an 1851 description, consumed its own smoke. While passing through

Lewisohn Stadium - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-570: Was an accomplished expert marksman with numerous medals and championships. For many years, the CCNY Rifle Team excelled in national, regional and local competition and was consistently in the NRA-sponsored Top Ten national ranking, with the best record of any team at CCNY. They traveled around the U.S. to compete against different collegiate teams as well as against Army and Navy which were the only teams they could never beat. Unfortunately,

1320-560: Was cast as the Smersh agent Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love starring Sean Connery and Robert Shaw . In 1966, Lenya originated the role of Fräulein Schneider in the original Broadway cast of the musical Cabaret . Kander and Ebb 's score was considered by some to be inspired by Weill's music. In 1979, two years before her death, Lotte Lenya was inducted into

1360-483: Was completed that December. Subsequently, the bike lane was extended between 14th and 38th Street in 2024. Lotte Lenya Lotte Lenya (born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer ; 18 October 1898 – 27 November 1981) was an Austrian-American singer, diseuse , and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is best remembered for her performances of

1400-611: Was converted on December 6, 1951. Amsterdam Avenue continues to carry two-way traffic north of 110th Street. During the real estate boom of the late 20th century, Amsterdam Avenue from roughly 59th Street to 96th Street became one of the city's most expensive residential districts. Downtown buses use 9th Avenue unless specified below: As part of the 7 Subway Extension , the New York City Subway 's 7 and <7> ​ trains were extended to 34th Street in 2015. An intermediate stop, Tenth Avenue ,

1440-615: Was homosexual. After Davis' death in 1957, she married artist Russell Detwiler in 1962, who was homosexual as well. He was 26 years her junior and a heavy alcoholic, but she was widowed for a third time when Detwiler died at the age of 44 in 1969 as the result of a fall from an alcoholic seizure. He was interred on their seventh wedding anniversary. On June 9, 1971, she married critic and TV producer Richard Siemanowski, but separated from him only two years later, never having lived with him. Lenya died in Manhattan of cancer in 1981, aged 83. She

1480-471: Was inspired by Lenya. The Michael Kunze play Lenya is about Brecht's favorite singer, Lotte Lenya. In 2007, the musical LoveMusik , based on Lenya's relationship with Weill, opened on Broadway. Lenya was portrayed by Donna Murphy . She is mentioned in the Fascinating Aïda song "Lieder", which originally described her as German, but was corrected for later performances. She is referenced in

1520-498: Was originally planned but was dropped from the official plans in 2008. The 1 train serves two stations along the Inwood portion of Tenth Avenue: 207th Street and 215th Street . The IND Eighth Avenue Line has a station at 163rd Street A protected bike lane was installed in 2016 from 72nd Street to 110th Street. In August 2023, work began on a 10-foot-wide (3.0 m) protected bike lane from 38th to 52nd Street, which

1560-498: Was present in the studio when Louis Armstrong recorded Brecht-Weill's " Mack the Knife ". Armstrong improvised the line "Look out for Miss Lotte Lenya!" and added her name to the list of Mack's female conquests in the song. Her role as Vivien Leigh 's earthy friend Contessa Magda Terribili-Gonzales in the screen version of Tennessee Williams ' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) brought Lenya Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actress . In 1963, she

1600-517: Was renamed "Amsterdam Avenue" in 1890 at the request of local merchants seeking to distance themselves from "Death Avenue" and to increase the value of their properties in an area that had yet to "catch on". The name was intended to recall the Dutch roots of Manhattan's earliest colonization in the 17th century, when the city was known as New Amsterdam . They hoped that the area would become a "the New City" and

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